A rotation-rate sensor described in German Patent No. DE 10 2006 058 746 A1 has a movable element that is situated above the surface of a substrate and is able to be driven to vibrations by a driving device along a first axis running along the surface, and which is deflectable along a second axis that runs perpendicular to the surface of the substrate (out of plane) by the action of a Coriolis force, and has a compensation device that is equipped to compensate for undesired vibrations of the movable element along the second axis, which are caused by the driving device.
The undesired vibrations along the second axis are recorded as so-called quadrature signals, and they falsify the measurement results. The cause of the quadrature signals, in this instance, typically is asymmetries in the sensor structure, which are given rise to by production tolerances. The undesired vibrations along the second axis have the same frequency as the vibrations along the first axis. Their direction is determined by the type/shape of the asymmetry.
The present invention is based on the object of creating an improved compensation device for quadrature signals in a rotation-rate sensor that is equipped to record a Coriolis force directed perpendicular to the substrate.